The 291 Gallery was housed in a converted Victorian Neo Gothic property located at 291 Hackney Road, Shoreditch, London.

The Neo Gothic former church property was built in 1864 and forms part of a complex of buildings comprising a former church, vicarage and hall. The original architect was Henry Woodyer (1816–1896), one of the leading church architects of his time. He was a pupil of William Butterfield and a disciple of A. W. N. Pugin.

The Gothic arches were built using hand crafted Portland Stone. The main body of the building is very tall, some 20 metres to the apex of the pitched roof and has clerestory windows grouped in pairs. The east window has five lights, and the tracery is made up of three circles containing multiple trefoils. There is a large intricate rose window to the west.

The original stained-glass windows were of a very high standard, based on Pre Raphaelite style but only two remain, one depicting the story of St George fighting the Dragon and the other a double window depicting The Virgin Mary and St Anne. Most of the windows were badly damaged during World War II, where large parts of the East End of London suffered extensive bombing during “The Blitz”.

The renowned stained-glass artist Margaret Rope began to replace the missing stained-glass windows and installed a series of eight windows portraying the enactment of miracles by saints but surrounded by real-life Haggerston residents or emergency services like modern day firemen in action, which was highly unusual for stained glass window design. Her work was finally completed in 1947, and the windows were a popular attraction until 1960 when the church was closed and became redundant. Two of Rope’s windows were moved to nearby St Saviours Priory, whilst the others were installed in the crypt of St Mary Magdalene, Munster Square, near Regent’s Park.

The three original stained-glass windows were damaged during the years of dereliction and were restored carefully when the building conversion works started. All the clerestory and east leaded light windows were broken and had to be completely renewed.

Derelict Building

Edwina Orr chose to relocate her Richmond Holographic Studios from Richmond Hill to Shoreditch in London’s East End – an area then experiencing rapid economic growth, driven in part by an influx of high-tech companies and major development projects.

In 1993, Orr identified the derelict church on the English Heritage “Buildings at Risk Register”, and a new company, Glasslake Ltd, was formed specifically to purchase and restore the entire complex, including the Neo Gothic former church, hall and vicarage. Orr recognised the potential of the property as a multimedia Art Gallery as it offered large open spaces and a high roof.

At the time in 1993, the London Borough of Hackney claimed to have one of the highest concentrations of artists and technology professionals in Europe, yet there were very few galleries in the area to exhibit their work.

Orr obtained planning permission to transform the property into a large Art Gallery complex, including a restaurant and bar. She also obtained planning consent for the conversion of the derelict vicarage into four residential flats, as well as the refurbishment of the 1926 hall.